Tibetans Battle Chinese In Lhasa

By ELIE ABEL/ Special to

New Delhi, – Open warfare against the Chinese Communist overlords of Tibet has broken out in Lhasa, according to official information reaching . A spokesman for the Indian External Affairs Ministry confirmed reports that virtually the entire population of Lhasa had joined rebellious Khamba tribesmen in an unequal struggle against Chinese troops. What apparently provoked the Lhasa uprising was an attempt by Chinese authorities to arrest the Dalai Lama, spiritual ruler of Tibet. His whereabouts has not been revealed publicly. The Indian Consulate General in Lhasa was said to be in the center of the fighting between Potala, the Dalai Lama's winter residence, and his summer residence, called Norbulingka. The buildings are two miles apart. The trouble started a few days ago, reports said, when the Dalai Lama was summoned to the headquarters of Gen. Chang Ching, the Peiping Government's representative in Tibet. The young Buddhist leader did not obey the summons. A second message was then received from Chinese headquarters saying the Dalai Lama was to go there alone, without his abbots-in-waiting. This news alarmed the Tibetan faithful and raced through the city. The women of Lhasa, including the Dalai Lama's mother, raised a cry of weeping. Several thousand Lhasa residents gathered outside the winter residence and marched on the Indian Consulate General to appeal for help against the Chinese. The last word from the Tibetan capital was that Chinese had started firing in a determined attempt to put down the uprising. The townspeople and the Khambas also were said to be using firearms. Unofficial reports said fighting started three days ago. In view of the Indian Government's strenuous efforts in the past to play down reports of the Khamba uprising, confirmation of the Lhasa fighting came as a surprise. It was only three days ago that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru told the Indian Parliament: "There may be some violence here and there; it is a difficult situation. But it is more a clash of wills at the present than a clash of arms or physical bodies." The Khambas, a tough Nomadic people, rose in revolt against Tibet's Chinese overlords last summer. Their resistance took the form of sabotage, sniping and occasional skirmishes. In some parts of southeastern Tibet along the Brahmaputra River Valley the Khambas managed to establish their own authority by forcing the Chinese to withdraw. Indian officials have consistently cautioned reporters against making too much of the Khamba uprising. They took the line that the tribesmen had nothing but small arms and were no match for the well-equipped Chinese Army. One of New Delhi's apparent fears was that in the event of an armed showdown the defeated Khambas would seek refuge in Indian territory. In his statement to the lower house of Parliament Tuesday Mr. Nehru said it was always "embarrassing" to discuss events in a neighboring country on the basis of limited knowledge. He acknowledged that the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetans, might have submitted to Peiping's authority under duress but went on to say that Chinese suzerainty over the isolated Himalayan country had been recognized in the past by all countries.

Reports of Fighting Recalled As recently as last Dec. 28 there were persistent reports in many cities in India that Tibetan tribesmen had revolted against the Chinese Communist forces. Some Indian estimates were that as many as 50,000 Chinese had been killed in several months of fighting, along with 15,000 Tibetans. At that time there were rumors that the Dalai Lama might seek asylum in India. A spokesman for the Government of Nepal confirmed that rebel Khamba tribesmen from northeastern Tibet were crossing the border into Nepal as refugees in fairly large numbers. According to commercial travelers, the biggest flare-ups occurred between last August and October when the Khamba tribe in the eastern province of Kham revolted. Since that time, it was reported, there have been numerous small-scale clashed.

Dalai Lama Enters India And Asks for Sanctuary April 3, 1959

Hong Kong –

The Chinese Communists declared today that the Dalai Lama reached sanctuary in India Tuesday. They implied he had arrived with Indian approval. The announcement, over the Peiping radio, said the Tibetan leader had reached Indian soil "under duress." "It was learned that the Dalai Lama, under duress by rebellious elements, has now entered India," the Peiping broadcast said, "United States and British journalists are trying to interview him. "The Dalai Lama and others arrived in India on March 31. Indian border police authorities have left Towang to meet him." Towang is an Indian border post 150 miles south of Lhasa near Bhutan and Tibet. [In New Delhi, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru told Parliament Friday that the Dalai Lama had crossed into India and asked for asylum, United Press International reported.] Since the first confirmation by the Peiping radio March 28 that a state of revolt existed in Tibet, the Chinese communists have contended that he 23-year-old Dalai Lama had been seized by the rebels. Anti-Communist sources insisted that the Dalai Lama had fled under the protection of the rebels. The arrival of the Dalai Lama in India would raise delicate questions. On Tuesday Peiping warned that troubles within Tibet were "an internal problem." "No foreign country should interfere in the rebellion in Tibet, which is purely the internal affair of ," the Peiping radio said. This broadcast was apparently aimed at India. It referred to India as a "great and friendly neighbor" that would continue to observe an agreement to refrain from interference in the internal affairs of others "and will not permit friendly relations between our two countries to be damaged." The following day the Indian Deputy External Affairs Minister, Mrs. Lakshami Menon, declared in Parliament that the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi had been "highly improper" in distributing printed criticism of India's attitude toward the Tibetan crisis. She questioned the propriety of distributing reproductions of an editorial in The People's Daily of Peiping, which charged that Kalimpong, in India, was the "command center of the Tibetan revolt."

Diplomats Report Arrival By REUTERS New Delhi, India -- The Dalai Lama has safely reached Indian territory in the Northeast Frontier Agency and will be granted asylum by the Indian Government, diplomatic informants said here last night. Towong, the Indian border post named by the Peiping radio, is in the Northeast Frontier Agency, a mountainous tribal area. Diplomatic sources said they believed the Indian government learned of the Dalai Lama's arrival in India Wednesday or early yesterday. The sources said New Delhi and Peiping had been in constant communication during the last few days. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to make it clear that while India felt bound to give at least temporary asylum to the Dalai Lama, this should not be construed by China as an unfriendly act. An Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman said no permits would be issued to correspondents to visit the Frontier area, which adjoins Assam.

Peiping Attacks Rebels Kalimpong, India -- The Chinese Communists have launched an offensive southeast of Lhasa against the main stronghold of the Tibetan revolt. The thunder of artillery was heard in the Tibetan capital beginning at mid-day yesterday, according to authoritative reports reaching this Indian frontier town in the Himalayas. Recent reinforcement of the Chinese Army suggested the start of a decisive campaign to crush the insurrection. A communiquÈ broadcast last Saturday by the Peiping radio said the Tibetan Military Area Command was under orders "to stamp out the rebellion thoroughly." The artillery barrage south of Lhasa continued through last night and into this morning, the latest dispatches said. This was the first report of fighting since the Chinese garrison of 40,000 troops overwhelmed a Lhasa uprising March 22. Most of the rebel force has been in an area between Nagartse on the west and Lho Dzong on the east for eight or nine months. All that time the Chinese made no serious effort to challenge the rebels. The present offensive may have a more limited objective, it is said here, but in the long run the Chinese must overcome the rebels if they are to control Tibet.

Large Guns Are Used By REUTERS Kalimpong -- Communist China has called up its big guns to crush Tibetan resistance, reliable informants said here today. They said the heavy artillery began booming Wednesday about twenty-five miles south of Lhasa. There have been reports on trouble brewing in Gyangtse, 100 miles southwest of Lhasa. The Chinese troops there have ringed the city with barbed wire, apparently to prevent rebel infiltration. A few stores in Lhasa are reported to have reopened, but a dusk-to- dawn curfew imposed during the revolt is still in force.

Taiwan Gets Intelligence By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Taipei, Taiwan -- Nationalist China's official Central News Agency reported today that Tibetan rebels and Chinese Communist troops were fighting 165 miles northeast of Lhasa at Heiho. Central News said the report came from intelligence sources in Lhasa. The report said more than a hundred Communist troops were killed Monday and Tuesday in the Heiho area and fighting was still in progress. April 4, 1959 Man In the News God-King of Tibet: The Dalai Lama

In early springtime, 1956, the youthful Dalai Lama sat in a new pavilion outside the Potala Palace in Lhasa and, under the watchful eye of the emissary from Peiping, Marshal Chen Yi, declared dutifully that Tibet's "entry into socialism" could be achieved only under China's leadership. This may have been his last gesture of subservience. Already rumors of Tibetan revolt against Red China were being carried down to India across the icy, wind-swept passes. The revolt seemed confined to the wild gorge country of eastern Tibet, the region known to Tibetans as Kham, astride the upper Yangtse; so far, Lhasa was calm. But even in the capital, on this day of solidarity, the Dalai Lama heard bolder voices of his court warn against increasing infringements by the Chinese on Tibetan autonomy. Buddhism is a creed of nonviolence and although the monks of Tibet had an ancient reputation as formidable fighters, the reigning Dalai Lama hardly seemed much of a menace to Peiping. He was then nearly 21 years old, slight, of medium height, and he had the ability to project what one correspondent called "an almost overwhelming gentleness."

Yielded to the Inevitable He had inspired little resistance in the closing months of 1950 when Communist forces swept into Tibet. The strongest fortress, at Chamdo, about 370 miles east of Lhasa, yielded without a fight. The Dalai Lama and his court fled southward over an icy plateau to a remote village near the Himalayan divide.

The Dalai Lama appealed in vain to India and to the United Nations. Finally, convinced of the hopelessness of armed resistance, he approved a seventeen-point agreement under which Red China pledged a considerable degree of autonomy. In July the Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa. The outside world had a glimpse of him late in 1956 when, with permission of Communist China, he visited India on a religious pilgrimage. What the crowds in New Delhi saw was a youthful, spectacled, close-cropped monk wrapped in brown Buddhist robes. He smiled a great deal. Western newsmen who are not readily susceptible to piety reported that he showed special qualities of "goodness and kindness." The shy, studious Dalai Lama, fourteenth in a line of god-kings who have ruled Tibet for about 600 years, was born in Tsinghai Province, in mountainous northwest China on the frontier of Tibet. One account says he was born in a squalid shack; another that his father was a comparatively well-to-do farmer. He was chosen god-king (his other titles: the All-Embracing Lama, the Holder of the Thunderbolt, the Presence, the Precious Protector, the Inmost One) in accordance with ancient Lamaist custom. His predecessor, known to Tibetans as "The Great Thirteenth" for having kept Tibet free despite grave Chinese threats, died in 1933. According to the Tibetan religion, when a Dalai Lama dies, his spirit may roam for a time in the "heavenly fields" but always, eventually, reincarnates itself in a newborn child.

Revealed by Portents Various portents guided Buddhist holy men in their search for the fourteenth incarnation to the Kokonor (Blue Lake) region of Tsinghai. They found a plump, round-eyed 2-year- old boy playing on the floor of a farm kitchen. The lamas put him to the test. They placed before him a number of articles belonging to the late "Great Thirteenth." These were mixed with other items not belonging to the dead lama. It is reported that the child cried "Lama, lama" and reached for a cane and two necklaces that were genuine. The holy men wanted to take the boy to Lhasa immediately. But the Chinese governor of the province demanded an exorbitant payment. It was more than a year before this demand was settled. In September, 1939, the Tibetan party returned to Lhasa with the child, who was immediately declared the True Incarnation. The fourteenth Dalai Lama had to be lifted on his throne at the enthronement ceremonies in February, 1940. The British representative, Sir Basil Gould, recalled that the 5-year- old boy blessed each of the high lamas, when they had prostrated themselves before the throne, with an uncanny naturalness and aplomb. April 4, 1959

Dalai Lama Gets Asylum In India; Harried In Flight

Special to The New York Times

New Delhi, India – Official confirmation that the Dalai Lama had escaped the Chinese Reds and reached India safely was hailed here today by all quarters except the Indian Communists. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru told Parliament that the Dalai Lama crossed into Indian territory last Tuesday and had been granted political asylum. He said the Tibetan god- king, regarded by his people as the living incarnation of Buddha, was "quite healthy" and would receive "respectful treatment." All members except the Communist group welcomed the Prime Minister's announcement with cheers and applause. In so doing the members displayed spontaneous reverence for the Dalai Lama, who is held in great esteem in India.

Indictment of Reds Seen "That a deeply spiritual and temporal ruler of a peaceful nation should have been forced to flee his country is a powerful indictment of Communist China's policy toward Tibet," one M. P. declared in the lobby. Pan Tze-li, Chinese Ambassador here, was called to the Indian Foreign Office and handed a copy of Mr. Nehru's statement to Parliament. Later an official spokesman said that India had a right to grant political asylum to anyone and was under no obligation to convey the statement to the Chinese Government. However, this was done voluntarily by the Government, he added.

Ruler's Powers Questioned After Mr. Nehru's speech, one member asked whether the granting of political asylum would confer on the Dalai Lama the same spiritual and temporal rights he had borne in Tibet. The Prime Minister replied that this was a "complicated matter which would have to be considered." ["The Government of Tibet is now in India," said Silun Lokongwa, former Premier of Tibet now in New Delhi, according to The Associated Press. "There is only one legal and constitutional government of Tibet and it will always be wherever the Dalai Lama is." Another Tibetan leader called the Dalai Lama's escape one of the most remarkable in world history.] Mr. Nehru said that the Dalai Lama was accompanied by an entourage of eighty persons and that the party was heading toward Towang and was expected to reach there Sunday. Towang is about forty miles south of Chutangmu, checkpost on the Indian frontier close to the eastern border of Bhutan. Mr. Nehru said the Dalai Lama had crossed into Indian territory through this checkpost and had been received at the frontier by an assistant political officer of the Towang subdivision, a part of the Kameng frontier division of the Northeast Frontier Agency. This area is administered by the Ministry of External Affairs. Many foreign correspondents based in Kalimpong are now heading toward Towang. But it is unlikely that they will be allowed to enter the frontier area, which, according to an official spokesman, is closed to all foreigners and Indians from other areas.

Nehru Informed Earlier The Prime Minister told the House he had advance information that the Dalai Lama had crossed the Indian border Tuesday, but had withheld the information awaiting confirmation, which he received last evening. He said an envoy of the young god-king had reached the border Sunday, stating that the Dalai Lama had requested political asylum. Thereupon, he added, instructions were issued to checkposts in the area to receive him at the border. The plans of the Dalai Lama are not known here. But it is said that he is not likely to stay at Towang, where there is an old Buddhist monastery. History is repeating itself. The thirteenth Dalai Lama, predecessor of the present ruler, fled to Darjeeling in 1918 when he refused to accept the Chinese Government's suzerainty over Tibet. After a few years he returned to Lhasa after the Tibetan monks and people had refused to surrender to Chinese pressure and had re-established the Dalai Lama's supremacy. He died in 1933. A private shrine was built in Kalimpong at that time to commemorate the exile of the thirteenth Dalai Lama. The present Dalai Lama visited India in November, 1956, while Premier Chou En-lai of Communist China was here. In that visit, the Dalai Lama made a deep impression on the people here. The Dalai Lama's presence in India as a political refugee, it is felt, is bound to exacerbate the already strained relations between New Delhi and Peiping. Red China's prestige here is at its lowest point, judging from parliamentary debates, newspaper reaction and private comments in official circles. For the Tibetan people the ruler's presence in this country is expected to provide a rallying point for popular resistance to the Chinese take- over. Nine years ago, when Mr. Nehru counseled moderation at the time the Chinese Communist army moved into Tibet, he was politely told by Peiping to mind his business. Therefore considerable doubt is expressed here as to whether Peiping would be responsive to any conciliatory move from New Delhi. Regarding other aspects of Indian-Chinese relations, the two countries in the last few years have exchanged notes on controversial border issues. The Communists have repeatedly published maps showing a large part of India's northeast frontier as belonging to China, which has angered New Delhi. Red China has stated that it proposes to undertake a comprehensive survey of the Indian- Chinese border.